Bar incident leaves Goose Island's Greg Hall contrite

April 11, 2011|By Josh Noel

It wasn’t celebrating the $38 million acquisition of his family’s brewery by Anheuser-Busch – it was just a birthday party. But it ended with a bartender saying that Goose Island brewmaster Greg Hall urinated into two beer glasses while standing at the bar and Hall saying he “(screwed) up big time.”

The incident Friday at Wicker Park’s Bangers & Lace, which Hall sheepishly blamed Monday on overconsumption, has generated apologies from Hall and lingering hard feelings from the bartender who said he had to clean up the urine left behind.

Already a well-known figure in craft beer circles, Greg Hall has increasingly been a public face since the company his father, John Hall, started 23 years ago was bought out by A-B, the brewing giant responsible for Budweiser. (Greg Hall, 45, said after the sale was announced that he will be leaving Goose this month to start a new venture, details of which he has yet to announce.)

In a phone conversation Monday afternoon, Hall said he couldn’t remember enough of the incident to comment about it specifically, but he did say, “I did what I did and I take responsibility for it.”

“I feel awful,” he said. “I wouldn’t stand it if someone did it at my place or if one of my people did something like that.”

He said he has left messages for staff at Bangers & Lace, but has not heard back.

Matty Eggleston, a bartender working at Bangers & Lace that night, said Hall and some Goose Island employees were nearing the end of several hours at the bar – drinking mostly Goose’s higher end Belgian-style beers – when he saw Hall “leaning against the front of the bar, looking down.”

Eggleston said, he “jokingly said to one of the other bartenders, ‘Look, it looks like he’s (relieving himself).’”

As Hall and his group began to leave, Eggleston said he heard Hall tell his friends, “Don’t drink that.”

Eggleston said he put his finger on the side of one of the two full 8-ounce glasses. It was warm enough to know it wasn’t Honker’s Ale, he said.

Hall declined, Eggleston said, took the glasses and set them on a ledge near the door. Eggleston said he offered Hall a few choice words and then Hall left.

Minutes later, Eggleston said, he went outside to throw out the glasses – “They were done at that point in my mind,” he said – and saw Hall sitting in a car parked on Paulina Street.

“I tapped on the glass, he rolled down the window and I just said that I wanted to introduce myself as the guy who had to clean your urine off the bar,” Eggleston said. “I told him to enjoy his newfound fortune and have a great night.”

(Hall said he did not drive home that night; he was waiting in the car for his girlfriend to drive him home.)

On Saturday, Eggleston said, he received a message from Hall via Facebook which he forwarded to the Tribune. It said, “I apologize for my outlandish behavior last night. I enjoyed myself at Bangers and Lace very much, the beer selection is tops as was our service . . . I'm very sorry to have ruined the night as I did. No excuses, just sincere apology.”

A case of Goose Island’s new Big John stout arrived at the bar Saturday.

While Eggleston said “there are good people at Goose Island,” he doesn’t accept the apology.

“It was disgusting, vile and revolting,” he said. “We all do dumb things; that went to a level that was pure insult.”

One of Bangers & Lace’s owners, Matt Eisler, said the bar wanted to take “the high road.”

“You can imagine we’re not happy, but an apology has been offered and we’d like to move on,” he said. “It’s too bad because it started off as a cool night with a bunch of people from Goose coming to our bar to drink beer.”

Asked if the bar would continue to carry Goose Island products, he said, “That’s up in the air right now. Whatever we do, it will be discreet.”

On Saturday, Hall also posted a simple, “My bad” on his Facebook profile.